


Apples Don't Fall Far

by vapiddreamscape



Series: Convoluted [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Dysfunctional Family, Episode: s02e01 Broken, Episode: s02e06 Tallahassee, Family Dynamics, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 07:53:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3402758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vapiddreamscape/pseuds/vapiddreamscape
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Baelfire never thought he'd ever understand his father. They were different people, different as night and day. Papa was night, soul consumed by the darkness magic brings. Baelfire was different. He was good."</p>
<p>Or, Bae learns a thing or two about cycles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Apples Don't Fall Far

**Author's Note:**

> This was canon when I stopped watching OUAT at the beginning of season 3. Hopefully, it still is now.

_Baelfire: "You hated my father so much, you didn't realize you're just like him."_

_-Once Upon a Time, "And Straight on 'Til Morning"_

Baelfire never thought he would understand his father. They were different people, different as night and day. Papa was night, soul consumed by the darkness magic brings. He was different. He was good. Or, so he thought.

This strange new world was so much different from the one he departed. Everything was so much louder, brighter, harsher. People rushed from one place to the next, not caring who they knocked down on their way. Buildings scraped the sky, attempting to claw their way to heaven. He didn't know a world could be so cold, but here he was, in a frozen concrete jungle he could never leave.

At first, he was shuttled from one foster home to the next, his passing leaving no mark on those he left behind. Some were better than others, but in the end, they pretty much fell into two categories. First, there were the people he didn't care about not caring about him until it was time for him to move on. On the other hand, you had people who cared too much. They were the ones who tried to save him, fix him. In a way, this was worse than apathy. He didn't want salvation. His brokenness was a reminder of all he had given up in order to reach this place. Also, it hurt more when they gave up on him. After two years, it was his turn to give up on them. Running away from the system, he never looked back.

On the big bad streets of New York City, he learned things from other children like him. He learned how to survive on his own. At first, his crimes were small. A few dollars from a pocket, some food from a grocery store, anything to get by. But once he started, he couldn't stop. With each new crime, he got this rush, adrenaline running like a sugar high through his veins. He imagined this is what the addicts he knew felt when they smoked, snorted, or shot up their drug of choice in back alleys; a high you'd never fall from, but always did. This is what his father felt when he used his magic. Bae knew this; he hated himself for it. But, just like an addict, he couldn't stop. In a way, he was just as bad as those druggies and his father, only his drug of choice wasn't pot, pills, heroin, or magic.

As Bae soon discovered, he had a natural affinity for crime. A master of sleight of hand, wallets disappeared before their owners even realized he had passed them by. Objects disappeared from store shelves. Pick locks and hot wiring cars were easy as breathing.

After each petty theft, he felts his goodness erode further. Chip by chip, he was turning into his father, a kind of urban Dark One. Truth is, after a while, he stopped caring. He came to believe it was his destiny. No matter how hard he tried, he would succumb to the evil that hibernated inside of him. It didn't matter how far he ran. You can't beat destiny and the apple never falls far from the tree. These facts of life were ones he accepted. Then, he met her.

Perhaps it was destiny. Karma. Some grand plan put in place by an omnipotent god. It didn't matter. Something caused Emma Swan to steal his already stolen car that day.

The minute he saw her, he knew he was done for. Electricity sparked inside him, giving him more of a rush in a single instant than all of his stealing and lying. He realized at that this girl would be the best thing to ever happen to him.

With Emma, he felt happiness unlike anything he has felt in the longest time. She cracked open his heart of stone and, for the first time in this frozen place, he loved. He thought they would live together forever. However, he forgot three vital facts.

  1. His father had driven away anyone who ever loved him.
  2. He was his father's son.
  3. Apples don't fall far from the tree.



They were so close to happily ever after. Then his past came up, tapped him on the shoulder, and laughed in his face. "You thought you could live happily ever after? How could you be so naïve? You seem to have forgotten who you are."

He should have known his past would catch up with him. There was just too much of it. His life of magic. His life of crime. Eventually, both came to bite him in the ass, ruining the life he so carefully constructed in moments.

He really thought the plan would work. It almost did. But then his life of magic came back and he had no time to salvage anything.

_I know you're Baelfire._

The words seared into his retinas, into his soul. No one knew that. That was another life. He was Neal Cassidy, a different man with a different life. This one might have its traumas, but it was better than the one he left behind. He wanted to keep this. He had love, warmth, a place- well, a person really- to call home. For once in his life, he was happy. Goddammit, why could the world give him one lasting chance for happiness, instead of yanking the rug from beneath his feet, leaving him sprawling on the floor?

No matter how much he wanted to stay, he knew he had to leave. Emma had a destiny, one that no longer included. It shattered him, leaving her, but he knew it was what had to do. If Emma was destined to be the savior, he was destined to let her fulfill her task. He made August promise to let him know when Emma had paid her dues, because he loved her and wanted with all the pieces of his shattered heart to go back to her.

Ten painful years passed. Slowly but surely, Bae got back on his feet. It was slow going, agonizing, but he put himself back together. He gave his heart away again, because third time is supposed to be the charm. And then he got what he was waiting for.

_Broken_. That one word managed to completely break apart the fragile balance he has created. Emma had fulfilled her destiny. He could go back. But he knew from the moment he received that postcard that he would not. Emma was his life no longer. He broke her heart as well as his the day he walked away. He couldn't do that to her again. More selfishly, he knew he couldn't do that to himself again.

Bae never thought he would understand his father. Perhaps they were once different people, but the line between them blurred beyond recognition.

Both were selfish, arrogant bastards who cared for nothing but their own heart. Both had left someone they loved without warning, apparently for "their own good." Both got what they wanted, never minding the consequences for themselves and others. Both had given their hearts again and again with nothing to show for it but scars. No matter how many times they built themselves up, the world knocked them down. And both were cowards, fearful of another broken heart.

Baelfire never thought he would understand his father, let alone become him. But apples don't fall far from the tree, and he was Rumpelstilskin's son, through and through.


End file.
